The Jolly Roger
The Jolly Roger Episode Number: Season 3, Episode 17 Directed By: Ernest Dickerson Air Date: April 13, 2014 Previous Episode: It's Not Easy Being Green Next Episode Bleeding Through "The Jolly Roger" is the seventeenth episode of Season 3 of the American fairytale/drama series Once Upon a Time, and the show's 61st episode overall, which aired on April 13, 2014. In this episode, Ariel pleads with Hook to search for Eric, whom she believes disappeared upon his return to Storybrooke, as Emma Swan receives a lesson on how to defeat Zelena from Regina, meanwhile, Mary Margaret and David try to convince Henry that they are not as boring as Henry thinks. Meanwhile, back in the Enchanted Forest, Ariel believes that Hook kidnapped Eric, but when Hook's ship disappears, the two start their search to find out what happened. Plot 'Opening Sequence' David's pickup truck is featured driving in the forest. 'In the Character's Past' In the Enchanted Forest, a knight stands in the road blocking two other knights from passing and demands that they leave the treasure. The knights do not take him seriously but all of a sudden, flaming arrows light up all around the 2 knights and they retreat. It turns out that the knight who orchestrated this ambush is Hook, with help from Smee and two of his crew members, and all the flaming arrows were held by dummies. As they arrive to a tavern to celebrate their latest steal, Hook's men get him a bar girl, but outside he turns her down, then he gets knocked out by Ariel, who then orders Hook to his feet and he tells her she's got the wrong pirate. Ariel tells Hook that Eric was taken aboard the Jolly Roger, and when Hook asks her who's the captain of his ship now, Ariel shows Hook a knife with carved initials, which Hook recognizes as those belonging to Blackbeard. Hook laments that he hasn't been the same since he got back to the Enchanted Forest because he hasn't used his ship. However, Hook is left with no choice but to have Ariel come along with him and Smee. As they trek across the forest, Hook tells Ariel that she may not find Eric, but she tells him she's heard stories of Hook helping Snow White reunite with her family in Neverland, and she says there's nothing wrong with being good, but Hook says (reluctantly) he's a pirate and that he always will be one. As they reach the docks next to the Jolly Roger, Hook sees one of Blackbeard's men and knocks him out, when all of a sudden his adversary Blackbeard shows up to give him a message: if Hook wants his ship, he'll have to fight for it. Hook accepts and a sword fight battle commences, but just as Hook is about to kill Blackbeard, Ariel tells Hook they need to know where Eric is first, because he's not on board. It turns out that Blackbeard has left Eric stranded on a deserted island, and offers Hook a deal in which he'll tell him where Eric is if Hook gives up the Jolly Roger, or else Eric will die. Ariel tries to talk Hook into saving Eric and giving up the Jolly Roger, but he tells her love brings pain and that he's doing her a favor. As Hook cuts Blackbeard loose and tosses him overboard, Ariel slaps Hook and tells him he's selfish and heartless, and that's what will bring him endless torment. Then, she jumps off the plank into the water to find Eric. 'Storybrooke' In David and Mary Margaret's loft, Emma Swan helps David put a crib together, and along with Regina and Mary Margaret, Zelena has become the main subject of conversation as Regina has put a protection spell over the loft. Emma tells Regina she wants her to teach her magic so they can defeat Zelena. David then offers to watch Henry, but Emma says Henry doesn't think they're fun, as he thinks Hook is better to be around with. At the docks, a homesick Smee tells Hook he and the men miss him, but when he asks Hook what happened to the Jolly Roger, Hook tells him all he needs to know is the ship's not here and has no intention of leaving Storybrooke. As Emma walks up with Henry, Hook flirts with Emma and tells her he thinks it's good she's going to be learning about magic, which she says will be enough to defeat Zelena, then she's done, but Hook tells her she can't pretend this never happened since she can't go back to her old life, saying it didn't work for him. At the same time, Mary Margaret and David walk on the beach and notice a group gathered around a woman who just washed up on shore, which they discover is Ariel. When Mary Margaret and David ask Ariel what happened to her, she tells them that Eric's missing and she's been looking for him, adding that she has no memories of the missing year. David suggests that Hook might know what happened to Eric. Later on at Granny's Diner, Hook teaches Henry how to roll dice, when David comes in and "introduces" Ariel to him, but when she asks Hook if he saw Eric during the missing year, he lies to her, saying that he never heard of him, and as the others (David, Mary Margaret and Ariel) talk about finding him in Storybrooke, Hook refuses to help (believing that Eric is dead), but David wants Hook to help Ariel anyway while he and Mary Margaret watch over Henry. At Regina's vault, Regina warns Emma not to touch anything as they talk about Hook watching Henry and Hook flirting at Emma all the time. Regina then uses her magic to send Emma to a rope bridge across a deep chasm, where Regina tells Emma that they're going to push her instincts, and as the boards start flying off the bridge, Regina says Emma has to reach into her gut and she can either stop it or die. Emma falls off the bridge, when she suddenly levitates herself back up to the top of the gorge. Meanwhile, Mary Margaret and David talk about how to be more fun and cool around Henry, and David later proceeds to teach Henry how to drive in his truck, as Henry almost causes an accident as he almost hits a car and hits a mailbox. Ariel and Hook pay a visit to Gold's shop and talk to Belle, where Hook finds his spyglass and notices a clasp that belongs to Eric. After a hopeful Ariel hugs Hook, Belle then pours a magical liquid infused with a locator spell onto Eric's cloak, which will help bring them closer to Eric. At the docks, the two use Eric's cloak as it floats through the air to the water, only to disappear under the surface, which disappoints Ariel, who starts to cry as she mourns her loss, and Hook tells her he's sorry. Ariel thanks Hook for helping find Eric's cloak, saying that she wishes she knew how it ended and that Hook has a true heart, adding that she will always be grateful to him. But as Hook runs up to Ariel he reveals to her they met in the missing year and explains what happened to Eric, saying that he was too ashamed to tell her before, he apologizes. Ariel calls Hook a coward and a monster because he traded a man's life for his ship. Then, when Hook begs for redemption, Ariel makes Hook swear that he still believes in love, and that he still loves the woman who broke his heart. Unfortunately, after admitting to his confession by swearing on Emma Swan's name, Ariel blows green powder onto Hook's lips and then transforms into Zelena, who had used her disguise as Ariel, because she knew that Hook's guilt from the day he chose the Jolly Roger over Eric would continue to haunt him. Zelena also cursed his kiss, meaning the next time he kisses Emma, her magic will disappear, leaving her powerless to stop Zelena. Since Hook realizes Zelena is unable to kill Emma, Zelena warns him that unless he kisses Emma to have her magic removed, she'll continue to threaten Emma's family and friends, by using Rumplestiltskin's dagger to kill them. Later that evening, Hook visits the loft, where he lies and tells Emma and Regina that Ariel had left to find Eric. Using a "magic mirror" spell, Emma watches the real Ariel and Eric embracing on a beach, happy and safe. As David, Mary Margaret and Henry return to the loft, Henry tells the others that he had a lot of fun with the couple. As Hook leaves, Emma tells him that even if he won't tell her what happened in the past year she's tired of living in the past. And as he sees the family having dinner at Granny's later on, Hook is troubled that he couldn't tell Emma the truth, because he is torn over Zelena's threat to hurt Emma's loved ones if he doesn't, and the knowledge of what will happen if he kissed her. Cast Starring *Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard *Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan *Lana Parrilla as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills *Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan/Prince James *Emilie de Ravin as Belle *Colin O'Donoghue as Hook *Michael Raymond-James as Baelfire/Neal Cassidy *Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills *Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold Guest Starring *Rebecca Mader as The Wicked Witch/Zelena *Joanna Garcia Swisher as Ariel *Gil McKinney as Prince Eric *Beverley Elliot as Granny *Charles Mesure as Blackbeard *Chris Gauthier as William Smee Trivia Production Notes= *The title card features David's truck. *The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on January 27, 2014. *After Hook lost the Jolly Roger, the show writers originally considered having him use another ship. It was eventually decided that he and his crew would become land pirates instead. *The scene where Ariel attacks Captain Hook was originally supposed to take place later in the episode, but was moved to the beginning of the episode during editing. *The scene where Emma falls from the bridge and levitates herself back up, was originally written as two scenes, with the first one ending with Emma falling, and her levitating herself back up in the the second scene. It was edited into one scene in post-production. Originally, Emma was supposed to conjure up a magical dragon to lift herself up from the gorge, but everyone thought that was pushing the character too far in terms of her magical abilities. It was changed to Emma using vines to levitate herself up, but the show makers then decided to let the visual effects people create something for them instead, and the fallen boards were added in post-production. *JoAnna Garcia Swisher had never slapped anyone on-screen before, so when they were shooting the scenes where Ariel slapped Hook, Colin O'Donoghue told her to go for it. At one point during filming, she slapped him on the neck instead of his face. *Hangman's Island, where Prince Eric is imprisoned, is a real-world location near Boston. |-|Goofs= *As David and Mary Margaret are walking through Main Street, the top of the Nikka Fishing & Marine, the building which doubles as the Storybrooke Clock Tower for the show, can be seen behind a building. The top two layers of the clock tower is CGI, and the top of the real building, looks completely different from Storybrooke's clock tower. |-|Other Notes= FILMING LOCATIONS *The scene where David and Mary Margaret find "Ariel", was filmed on a closed set on a beach in Vancouver's Stanley Park. The beach also doubles as Hangman's Island for the scene with Ariel and Prince Eric. The same beach was used to film the scene where Emma and Neal ran into Tamara in "Second Star to the Right".